Advanced to the Second Round

The Flames has advanced to the second round of playoff and everyone knows that. This is not a news-blog so it doesn't matter how late this is posted. They have to play The Ducks and the first two games would be played in Anaheim, California. 

The Ducks seems to be a much stronger competitor for The Flames. Here you see the American guy Kesler who used to play for Vancouver with No. 8 of Calgary. This is one advantage of being a professional hockey of basketball player. You get a chance to live in different cities!

I checked 17th Ave., SW after The Flames beat the Canucks 7-4 (I don't have any photos though because first of all it was very late and dark. Second of all the majority of the guys and gals where drunk and crazy and I didn't want to risk it!) which was unbelievable. They lost the first period 1-3 but won eventually. People went crazy on 17th which was predictable. Police was there but they cleaned the street from the parked cars and let these morons to do whatever they want to do. 

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson wearing The Flames Jersey after losing the bet to his viral! 

Calgary's mayor Nenshi  won a bet with Vancouver's mayor Robertson. The bet was that whoever team's loses the series he has to wear the winner's jersey! And he did! I'm going to send a message to the guy who sold me a couple of tickets last year to see a game if he has something or not. I know it would be expensive but I would like to see how much he's asking for.

(Photo, top: The Flames banners are put everywhere in the city including the Core Shopping Center in Downtown. This might not be a clear shot but that's all I got)

Unsuccessful Attempt to The Wedge

After our walk in Kananaskis which was not challenging at all, I and The Chef wanted to do a good hike/climb. He insisted a lot and I decided to take our chances on The Wedge in Highway 40 in Kananaskis. For that plan I set up the alarm for 04:30 and headed for his place in the other side of the town. Due to the distance, by the time I was there, it had already passed 05:10 and then we headed west on Highway No. 1. All of our efforts didn't help much and we were in Wedge Pond parking lot at almost 07:00. The first 20 minutes or so was wasted because we got on the trail which circles around the pond and heads to the highway. Then we turned back and I checked the printed information and we found the trail. The first part of the hike, maybe the first half hour or so was OK but then first it got really steep and then icy. I put my anti-slip sole on and give the other one to The Chef. The Chef's was not as good and he had difficulty getting up but I helped him using the stick method. Then we reached the end of tree-line and the steepness got even worse. I guess you could say it reached 60 degrees! The Chef was insisting to go back but I wanted to reach the damn summit.

In my opinion the next half hour steep scramble was the hard part and then we could reach the ridge and simply walk it. I could see piles or snow and probably ice on the ridge but didn't seem to be a big of a deal.

A beautiful Ptarmigan was seen on the way back down from the alevation. I slowly approached it from behind and took a few shots including this while it was watching me from the corner of its eye

I carried on going up but it was no joke. I had to use both hands and just where I though I could climb on the ridge like a saddle, I found almost nowhere to even get a grip! The Chef was insisting to go back and said he didn't want to risk it. I thought if I could not have gone up, he for sure would not have been able to go up. I decided to climb down but that was not easy either and for a second I thought how on earth I had climbed that part up!

The hike down the trail was not very easy, especially for The Chef. He fell once but fortunately didn't get himself injured. I slip once as well and landed on ice with my hip but nothing happened. He struggled all the way down until the ice disappeared completely.

We got back to the parking lot, I guess at around 10:45 or so but instead of going home decided to take Highway 40 or Kananaskis Trail and go south to see if we could experience anything. The views are amazing at this part but between The Chef being with me, both of us being tired and wanting to go home, I didn't use much of the photography opportunities. The part of Highway 40 right where Smith-Dorian Trail, joins it was closed and I checked later and realized that would be closed until the June. The good part of today's trip was not only getting a good exercise and seeing fantastic mountain views but also was seeing different animals. In the early morning after entering Highway 40 we saw a herd of Elk and then a few Deer. 

Mount Burney in Kananaskis. This in fact is a combination of different peaks. 

Then we saw a couple of Foxes which The Chef believed there were mother and kid(!) then further down the road we saw few other Deer as well and then the second herd of Elk. When we entered the forest and took the wrong trail I saw a couple of White-tailed Deer and on the way back from our ascend, I saw a beautiful Ptarmigan, I guess that was what it was. That completed the day. We were hoping to see other spices but that was it. The little Foxes and the bird were the highlights of the trip of course if do not consider the exercise itself. The Chef was really happy by the time we got to the city. I don't blame him considering the age and the time he had waken up in the morning (04:00, I guess). I'm sure we would have reached the summit, if it had not been that much ice and snow on the trail. We will try another climb in a month or so we announced. It would be either the same mountain or anything similar or harder in Alberta. 

(Photo, top: Wedge Point from The Wedge Trail. I guess this is as high as I got. Kananaskis Trail and the mountains at the other side of the river are seen) 

When East Indians are on Vacation

This experience is part of my Arizona road trip but because it was not planned or desired, it's not posted as part of the series. While at one of the attractions previously described, I bumped to an East Indian couple. The minute I saw them I realized were they were from. The guy stuck like dish of Curry and was dressed like a hobo. Many East Indians wear exercise pants on when they are out or in their place. It's much cheaper and they can buy it as used from a Value Village, Wal-Mart or similar store. It doesn't require ironing and barely they wash it. His accent the minute he opened his mouth you could tell he was from India but when I asked him where he was from he said Nevada!!

If he had been someone who is born from East Indian parent and raised here in, I would not have had any problem with his answer. But with that appearance, accent and smell, No way. he added that his parents were from Rajasthan when I asked him if he was from Jaipour! He either was so dumb or pretended to be clueless because even I know Jaipour is the capital of Rajasthan and my parents are not from anywhere in India, not that there's anything wrong with that!

During the tour I realized that he was taking pictures using a mobile phone. I am not a fan of smartphone and the new expensive phones that people use for almost everything in their daily life but at the same time I don't think when you're on a trip and a special tour, you should take photos using an old camera phone unless you're very cheap! The worst part was the smell! I don't know how the girl puts up with that but maybe her nostrils are filled with that! 

This motherfucker cheap stinking guy that I work with is quite similar. Once he was going to the States for a week of vacation and there was anyone in the company who didn't know he would be going on a vacation south of the borders! That's why I hate these people very much: Cheap but pretentious. They got nothing but claim to have everything!  

Workplace Stories (21): The Scavengers

Many different types of food come to household during the year. Majority of them are bought and consumed. A small portion is given as gift or similar. This second part usually comes during Christmas season and New Year that food give-away in shape of gift is very usual. This is mostly seen at work so at times we bring it home. 

The Lady brought a small box of home-made cookies last Christmas and while we ate a few, the rest were left as they were distasteful, very unhealthy or simply not our kind of snack. There were still 4 to 5 cookies, two of them in shape of human, similar to Ginger Bread in the drawer until last week when I pulled it and saw them for maybe the twenties time in the past 4 months or so and decided to do something with them. I took them to work and put them in a small plate in the kitchen where everyone could see it. I know what would happen considering I know almost everyone's character's in the company now. There are people who eat whatever you offer them as long as it is free! I passed by the kitchen after an hour or so. There was no cookie in the plate but some cookie dust! The Scavengers had eaten all them up! Same nearly happens when there's a meeting or conference. If food is served during the break and something is left. They put them out or simply leave them on the table. The Scavengers attack and nothing will be left in a few minutes! They resemble Vultures. They appear on the carcass after big cats are full and left. They start their meal and after an hour or so nothing will be left of the carcass but bones and skin! 

(Photo: A group of vultures are having party over the left-overs of a stronger animal. This is exactly similar to our workplace people. I can even name them one by one but better not!)

NHL Playoff Fever

The Calgary Flames were able to clinch playoff for the first time since 2009 and the city is excited for that. I was not here in 2009 and I don't think I was even following much of the NHL back then. I was in Surrey struggling with life! Their first home game would be held today in Scotiabank Saddledome. The first two games were played against Canucks in Vancouver and the teams are tied at 1-1. 

My thinking is it will be a chaos tonight in Downtown if the Flames win. Will be the same even if the Flames do not win because there are always people who hate quiet and peace (!) but we'll see. The playoffs I remember goes back to 2004 when they went all the way to the finals and eventually lost to Tampa Bay! 

The Flames were quite a strong team back then comprised of skaters such as Iginla, Conroy, Leopold, Commodore, Kiprusoff and Turek. Today's team is comprised of young players that I barely know any but experts are very optimist about them and to my surprise they beat the Canucks in the first game in their home 2-1!

(Photo: A Flames Fan has hoisted a flag with the teams logo in Calgary. I hope he doesn't mind that I have used his property's photo for this post without his or her consent) 

A Comparison Between Crimea and Kosovo

One topic was discussed with me briefly by someone whom I'm not going to mention anything about, last week and was very interesting. I think it could be a very good topic for discussion, of course not in Canada and the US as this is where people's motto is I Don't Care but I'd like to post it here because I knew nothing about this and find it very interesting and at the same time felt bad for the one who brought it to my attention:

The person is from former Yugoslavia, very heart-broken that the country is torn apart by the West's tricks and has become more than so-called independent states. This has been a policy of West: Divide and Conquer. This is what the British did to Indian Sub-continent. They torn apart the big country of India to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. And even after dividing the country they didn't left them alone. They supported local movements for independence. Sikhs in northwestern part of the country wanted to have an autonomous state of Khalistan. Tamils were fighting for years in the northern part of Sri Lanka for the independent state of Tamils and so forth. 

Former Soviet Union is another example but I'm not quite certain as which theory could be proven right. One theory states that Russia wanted to officially get rid of the poor states of the former Soviet Union such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, etc and then unofficially profit from them. Many citizens of the said states work low-paid labour jobs in Russia now. The other theory is the same as what was explained earlier: Divide and Conquer. The west torn the former Soviet Union and now there's no major competitor for them. They can rule the world much easier. This cannot be quite right because now Russia and China are the biggest threats to West's profit-making plans of the world. Not to mention other countries which are not sitting back quietly. Iran and Venezuela are example. At the end you'll never now what theory is right. It's complicated and twisted. It's an enigma wrapped in layers of mysteries! And as it's said in JFK: White is black and black is white. You think of something and it might be completely different from what you have in mind. 

Now back to Divide and Conquer plans of past few years. Yugoslavian War resulted in birth of a few small ruined and weakened countries. Serbians had the majority in the country and after the war they remained the villains. In the south there were Albanians whom were let in during and after the WWII by Tito and now they wanted an independent state! They created the so-called KLA, standing for Kosovo Liberation Army. They fought Serbs with the help of Albanians and then NATO. NATO is of course the military fist of West. They were happy that a small country of former Yugoslavia were becoming smaller and weaker so they helped KLA and in fact Albanian. While a war was going in south, NATO forces started bombing everything worth bombing in north and central Serbia. Bridges, hospitals and schools. The country's infrastructure was gone in a week. I remember watching on TV people crossing rivers on boats because there were no bridge left undamaged. This was being done without The UN's approval. That's why Gene Simmons called the UN, pathetic. I kind of agree with him as a Jew I don't think he should have said that because the UN has acted in favour of the Jewish State in most cases but letting them ignoring its resolutions! 

Anyways Kosovo declared independence with the assistance of West in 2008 while the majority of countries do not recognize it as a country and tensions are high in southern Serbia.

This map shows the newly built autonomous state of Crimea in southern Ukraine, a majority Russian region. 

At another corner of the world, not too far from Serbia, we have Ukraine, Russia and Crimea peninsula in south. Crimea became part of Ukraine after WWII. This was granted by Khrushchev but giving Crimea away didn't mean what some might think as Ukraine was part of Soviet Union. When the USSR, or as it was called by the Soviets, CCCP, collapsed, Russia still had its Black Sea fleet in Crimea and the majority of population of the peninsula were Russians. So a referendum was called and of course this didn't sound good to West. People voted for separation from Ukraine. That drove Ukrainians as well as Western Allies crazy. The question here is why an independent Kosovo is acceptable but an independent Crimea is not in the view of West? The answer is simple: Ukraine turned his back to the motherland and became a ass-kisser of West. Western countries called the referendum unlawful. In their view Crimea could not be an independent state and an ally of Russia while Kosovo could be an independent state and an ally of Albania and the West! This duality is outrages but understandable. The West has shown in the past 60 years and so that they do everything as long as it is in their favour. Vietnam War, Korean War, Iraq War, Afghanistan War, you name it. 

(Photo, top: Kosovo declared independence in 2008. The majority of the world do not recognize that as a country. Western countries of course do as that was their plan to weaken remaining of former Yugoslavia: Serbia. Even Iran, the country which aids Islamic groups, does not recognize Kosovo, the reason being they are Sunni Muslims!)